Sadio Mane offside goal: Assistant referee accused of ball watching for Liverpools opener against West Ham

Sadio Mane offside goal: Assistant referee accused of ball watching for Liverpools opener against West Ham
Assistantreferee MattWilkes has been criticised for ball-watching when he missed the offside call for Liverpools opening goal in their 1-1 draw with West Ham.Thats the view of former Premier League referee Mark Halsey, who joined the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast to reflect on a match littered by mistakes from officials.Wilkes was just yards away but failed to spot Liverpool midfielder James Milner was clearly offside when he received the ball before passing to Sadio Mane, who fired the Reds in front.West Ham took just six minutes to equalise through Michail Antonios clever finish, but they could have suffered again at the hands of the officials in the closing stages.2

Michail Antonio cancelled out Sadio Mane’s opening goal to secure West Ham a well-deserved draw

The flag stayed down when Divock Origi was played through on goal in stoppage-time despite being in an offside position, but, fortunately for the Hammers, goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was there to save his shot.Manager Manuel Pellegrini was furious following the game, bemoaning the illegal goal which cost his side victory over the below-par league leaders.“The goal and last chance from Origi was a big mistake from the linesman.“We draw because they scored a goal that was a metre and a half offside. We didn’t lose the game with the last play of the game because Origi missed a shot, but again was offside.” Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, accused referee Kevin Friend of allowing the decision to affect his performance for the rest of the game.“I heard our goal was offside, I’m pretty sure the ref knew that,” he said.“In 50-50 situations it was always a free-kick for the other team, which was hard and did not make life easy.”2

Jurgen Klopp and Manuel Pellegrini exchanged words at full-time

Speaking to talkSPORT on Tuesday, former referee Halsey said: The second one [Origi] hes always offside, so I just cant understand how Matthew Wilkes has got that wrong.The first one, if you look at it hes just yards and yards out of position. Hes ball watching, hes not using his peripheral vision.As a linesman, your main aim is to be there for offsides, but hes just looking down at the ball, hes not looking across the line.Hes ball watching and not looking at the line. Its so important he stays in the right position with the second-most rear defender to judge.Looking back at it I think hell be very ,very disappointed hes got that wrong.

Listen back to Mark Halsey on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast IN FULL above

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